Part 30--August, 2011

* 8/1/11--BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- The U.S. Justice Department today filed a lawsuit challenging Alabama's new immigration law, which is slated to go into effect next month. In its lawsuit, the Justice Department says Alabama's law unconstitutionally interferes with the federal government's authority over immigration. Alabama's new immigration law targets unauthorized immigrants, those who don't have federal alien registration or other proof of legal presence in the United States. If it takes effect, the law would criminalize their presence in Alabama and make it a crime for them to work here, among other things. An estimated 120,000 unauthorized immigrants lived in Alabama in 2009 and 2010, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington.--The Birmingham News

* 8/3/11--It may be early in the campaign season, but the Communist Party USA already has seen fit to endorse Barack Obama for the 2012 election. While noting he is disappointed with "some aspects" of the Obama administration's domestic and foreign policy, Sam Webb, chairman of the Communist Party USA, threw his support behind Obama's re-election bid.--WorldNetDaily.com

* 8/4/11--"After months of talk about the nation's runaway debt, lawmakers managed to agree on a plan that, at most, will cut spending by a mere 5%. Is it any wonder federal spending is out of control? ... According to IBD's analysis of available budget numbers, the deal's $2.4 trillion in 10-year cuts amounts to a mere 5% trim off total projected federal spending during that time. It's like a 400-pound man boasting that he plans to drop 20 pounds over a decade, while his doctors warn about the risks of losing weight so fast. Even calling these 'cuts' is a bit of a stretch, since spending will continue to increase, just at a slightly slower pace. ... By 2021, federal spending would still equal 22% of the nation's economy, above the post-World War II average of 20%. Not really a cut, is it? Plus, in the short term, these 'deep,' 'sharp,' 'slashing' cuts would still leave the federal government spending roughly 4% more in 2012 than it did in 2010, and 20% more than it did in 2008. Shorn of all the hyperbole, what this agreement really demonstrates is why it's so hard to get federal spending under control. Both sides routinely use budget gimmicks to exaggerate spending cuts, while armies of special interests swarm Washington to make sure their pet programs don't get touched. All the while, spending marches upward. And reporters too dumb, lazy or biased to understand how budgets work keep falling for this nonsense." --Investor's Business Daily (From Patriot Post Chronicle)

* 8/4/11--NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Nearly 15% of the U.S. population relied on food stamps in May, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. The number of Americans using the government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) -- more commonly referred to as food stamps -- shot to an all-time high of 45.8 million in May, the USDA reported. That's up 12% from a year ago, and 34% higher than two years ago. --cnn.com

* 8/5/11--Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Friday that the media has the responsibility to not give equal time or credence to the Tea Party's views:

SEN. JOHN KERRY: "And I have to tell you, I say this to you politely. The media in America has a bigger responsibility than it's exercising today. The media has got to begin to not give equal time or equal balance to an absolutely absurd notion just because somebody asserts it or simply because somebody says something which everybody knows is not factual."
"It doesn't deserve the same credit as a legitimate idea about what you do. And the problem is everything is put into this tit-for-tat equal battle and America is losing any sense of what's real, of who's accountable, of who is not accountable, of who's real, who isn't, who's serious, who isn't?"--realclearpolitics.com

* 8/5/11--Congress passed and the president signed the increase in the debt ceiling Tuesday, and that, as Leftmedia outlets rejoiced, ended the "crisis" just hours before the default deadline. On the other hand, the Left is grousing that the Tea Party got everything it wanted. But did the deal really end the crisis? Hardly. World markets plummeted in its wake -- the Dow fell 512 points Thursday, erasing all gains from 2011, evoking this response from the White House: "Markets go up and down." Furthermore, credit rating agencies continued to warn of a looming downgrade of the nation's AAA rating. And did the Tea Party come out with everything it wanted? Not a chance. On the contrary, the ship is still sinking. The Tea Party and the markets know that, despite all the back-patting in Washington. The $2.4 trillion debt ceiling increase is the biggest ever. In fact, total U.S. debt didn't reach $2.4 trillion until 1987. Immediately on Tuesday, the Treasury borrowed another $239 billion -- the largest one-day debt binge in history -- bringing total federal debt to $14.532 trillion, or just over 100 percent of our gross domestic product. Debt has not exceeded GDP since 1947 -- immediately after World War II -- and 30 years ago it was just 32.5 percent of GDP. Could there be a connection between the market collapse and this debt "milestone"? Democrats foisted upon the nation the biggest Keynesian spending bonanza in history, and the result has been almost no GDP growth, headline unemployment exceeding 9 percent (despite 117,000 new jobs in July), decreased consumer spending, inflation, debt as far as our great-grandchildren can see and a possible national credit rating downgrade. On Aug. 3, 2010, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner penned an op-ed for The New York Times titled "Welcome to the Recovery." That rings awfully hollow now. In fact, many think that we're headed for a double-dip recession. As for Barack Obama, later this month, he will embark on a three-day bus tour of the Midwest that he's styling as a "listening tour" focused on jobs. That's after his 50th birthday bash this week, which featured dinner at $35,800 a plate. In any case, it's become clear in recent weeks that the American people have lost confidence in Obama's policies and are tuning him out. Not to worry, though. Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) says, "[W]e're going to focus on what we know is the number one priority on Americans' minds right now -- that is creating jobs and continuing to get this economy turned around." Um, "continuing"? As for debt "deal" specifics, the House passed the increase 269-161, despite opposition from many Democrats and Tea Party Republicans. The Senate followed suit 74-26. Congress then quickly left for August recess. Barack Obama also signed the increase Tuesday saying the deal was "an important first step for ensuring that, as a nation, we live within our means." He even said it with a straight face. On the contrary, "living within our means" doesn't actually seem to be part of the plan. The debt ceiling was immediately increased by $400 billion. By the end of September, another $500 billion increase is subject to a congressional vote of "disapproval," and Obama can veto that measure. After that, a "blue ribbon" joint committee of Congress (six members from each chamber, divided equally between Democrats and Republicans) will meet to recommend another $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction by Nov. 23, which Congress must take up by Dec. 23, in exchange for that much more in debt. If the committee or Congress fails, which is possible, if not probable, the debt ceiling will increase by $1.2 trillion anyway, with across-the-board cuts -- including to ObamaCare -- equal to that amount kicking in automatically. Adding insult to injury, every spending cut is over 10 years, while every debt increase is immediate. So even with the deal, the forecast for the next decade is still trillions more in debt. As Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), who voted against the bill, put it, "It eliminates no program, consolidates no duplicative programs, cuts no tax earmarks and reforms no entitlement program. The specter of default or a credit downgrade will still hang over our economy after this deal becomes law." Is that what the Tea Party wanted? None of that is to say the deal is the worst possible outcome. In fact, with no tax-rate increases and some spending cuts, despite Democratic control of the White House and Senate, it's quite the opposite. Retaking those two should be paramount in 2012 to work peacefully toward restoration of constitutional Rule of Law. In the meantime, the Tea Party should continue fighting for everything it can win. --Patriot Post Digest

* 8/5/11--Now that the debt deal has been finalized, two vital stories are emerging. First, as we explained earlier in the week, it’s a dirty deal that does not have real “cuts”, institutionalizes Obama’s stimulus-level of government spending, sets America up for huge tax increases and will not save our credit rating. Second, the Left has launched a massive new effort to stick the “terrorist” label on the Tea Party. And it’s working.

**Joe Biden (as reported by Politico): “They have acted like terrorists.” (Biden’s staff denied that the Veep used the “terrorist” label but confirmed that “the word was used by several members of Congress.”)

**Rep. Mike Doyle: “We have negotiated with terrorists.”

**Also from Doyle: “This small group of terrorists have made it impossible to spend any money.”

**John Walsh (Salon): “It’s hostage-taking. And you shouldn’t negotiate with hostage-takers.”

**Chris Matthews (MSNBC): “I agree. It’s terrorism.”

**More Matthews: “The GOP has become the Wahhabis of American government, willing to risk bringing down the whole country in the service of their anti-tax ideology."

**More Matthews: Tea Party is “terrorizing this country with the debt ceiling.”

**David Brooks (NYTimes): “The members of this movement have no sense of moral decency.”

**Paul Krugman (NYTimes): “Republicans have, in effect, taken America hostage.”

**Joe Nocera (NY Times): “These last few months, much of the country has watched in horror as the Tea Party Republicans have waged jihad on the American people.”

**William Yoemans (Politico): “The tea party’s hostage-taking has evolved into the intentional infliction of harm on innocent Americans to achieve a political objective -- terrorism.”

It is clear the Left has an agenda -- demonize the Tea Party. They are using the nation’s financial crisis to label the Tea Party as terrorists who are holding the nation hostage. This is outrageous and it is the single greatest threat to the success of the Patriot movement that we face today.--Grassroots Action Alert

* 8/5/11-- The El Paso Times reports "U.S. federal agents allegedly allowed the [Mexican] Sinaloa drug cartel to traffic several tons of cocaine into the United States in exchange for information about rival cartels, according to court documents filed in a U.S. federal court. The allegations are part of the defense of Vicente Zambada-Niebla, who was extradited to the United States to face drug-trafficking charges in Chicago. He is also a top lieutenant of drug kingpin Joaquin 'Chapo' Guzman and the son of Ismael 'Mayo' Zambada-Garcia, believed to be the brains behind the Sinaloa cartel." The case certainly reminds us of "Operation Fast and Furious," run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, in which illegally obtained guns were allowed to be taken into Mexico in return for information on drug cartels and other smuggling operations. We have recounted that scandal on numerous occasions. This time, it's drugs crossing into the U.S., and though not as dangerous, it's an outrage nonetheless. Estimates are that some 3,000 people lost their lives due to Fast and Furious, including some at the hands of the Sinaloa cartel. Information about the cartel is apparently worth a lot of cocaine.--Patriot Post Digest

* 8/5/11--Workers of the World unite ... or else. That's the latest message sent to American workers by the International Association of Machinists (IAM) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The union has now resorted to outright blackmail to keep its stranglehold on American industry. The story in a nutshell is "The Godfather" meets "Reds." A few months ago, IAM filed an action with the NLRB to stop Boeing from opening a new plant in South Carolina, a right-to-work state. Boeing had decided it made more sense to build its new 787 Dreamliner in a business-friendly state, rather than Washington state, where the union is firmly entrenched. The company has already hired 1,000 workers, whom the IAM had no problem putting out of work. Now, however, it has magnanimously offered to withdraw, if Boeing's workers allow the union to "organize" at the new plant. Unions have long been known for their underhanded dealings, but few so blatant as this. Perhaps it's the backing of the White House that has emboldened them to -- as Americans for Tax Reform claims -- violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), the extortion law under which several mafia dons have been incarcerated. Neither the IAM nor the NLRB seems to care that American workers already have enough problems. According to the Institute for Supply Management, U.S. manufacturing activity fell to 50.9 percent in July from 55.3 percent in June. This is a new low since July 2009 -- the "official" end of the recession. So much for "Hope and Change."--Patriot Post Digest

* 8/6/11--For the first time in history, the United States last night lost its perfect credit rating, with Standard & Poor’s dropping it from AAA to AA+. The move by the credit-rating agency could affect everyone in America, with mortgage and credit-card interest rates rising and even gas prices heading up. S&P made the stunning move despite the recent congressional deal to raise the country's debt ceiling and heavy lobbying last night from Obama-administration officials, who said S&P's calculations were off by $2 trillion. America had held its AAA rating for 70 years. "The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal-consolidation plan that Congress and the administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government's medium-term debt dynamics," S&P said. The debt-ceiling deal was projected to lop off about $2 trillion from America's deficit over the next decade, but S&P had previously warned it would downgrade the credit rating if the cut didn't reach $4 trillion. The rancorous debate that played out in Washington didn't help boost S&P's confidence. The "conclusion was pretty much motivated by all of the debate about the raising of the debt ceiling," John Chambers, S&P's head of sovereign ratings, told The Wall Street Journal. "It involved a level of brinksmanship greater than what we had expected earlier in the year." A US Treasury spokesman last night attempted to downplay the S&P move, saying "a judgment flawed by a $2 trillion error speaks for itself." The move means American consumers will pay more for credit. An average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage could reach as high as 5 percent. Many financial analysts predicted the move would lead to another stock sell-off when the markets open Monday. "I think we will have a knee-jerk reaction on Monday," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said S&P's call was the result of Washington's "out-of-control" spending which "now threatens to send destructive ripple effects across our credit markets." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the decision "reaffirms the need for a balanced approach of deficit reduction." America's new credit status places it on par with China, New Zealand, Japan and Saudi Arabia. Countries that maintain a pristine rating include Germany, Canada, France and Norway. The United States maintains a perfect grade with the two other major credit-rating agencies, Moody's and Fitch.--NY Post

* 8/6/11--Everybody dance, now! President Obama ordered guests to spank the planks during his 50th birthday party at the White House, which raged into the wee hours. "Just left the president's birthday party at the White House," comedian Chris Rock tweeted at 1:30 a.m. yesterday. "Herbie Hancock played, Stevie Wonder sang, and yes, they did the electric slide." The president and First Lady Michelle danced all night, and urged others to join in.--NY Post

* 8/6/11--BEIJING — China, the largest foreign holder of U.S. debt, demanded Saturday that America tighten its belt and confront its “addiction to debts” in the wake of Standard & Poor’s decision to downgrade the U.S. credit rating. China currently owns $1.2 trillion of U.S. Treasury debt, the largest stake of any central bank. The commentary carried by the state-run Xinhua News Agency was Beijing’s first official response to the S&P decision. “The U.S. government has to come to terms with the painful fact that the good old days when it could just borrow its way out of messes of its own making are finally gone,” Xinhua said. It said the rating cut would be followed by more “devastating credit rating cuts” and global financial turbulence if the U.S. fails to learn to “live within its means.” “China, the largest creditor of the world’s sole superpower, has every right now to demand the United States to address its structural debt problems and ensure the safety of China’s dollar assets,” it said.--NY Post

* 8/8/11--WASHINGTON — The US credit rating could suffer a second calamitous downgrade — putting our nation on par with countries that are far tinier and have a reputation as tax shelters. There’s a “1 in 3” chance that America’s rating will get knocked down another peg during the next two years because of political bickering, New York Standard & Poor’s Director John Chambers ominously warned yesterday. Chambers -- the same bean counter who, The Post revealed, holds a degree in English literature, not economics -- was at the helm when the credit-rating agency scrapped the government's coveted AAA designation just three days ago. "If the fiscal position of the United States deteriorates further or if the political gridlock becomes more entrenched, then that could lead to a downgrade," Chambers yesterday said on ABC's "This Week." If a further downgrade does occur -- from AA+ to AA -- the United States would join the ranks of:

* Bermuda, which is known as a tax haven for big companies.

* Slovenia, which has a population of 2 million.

* Qatar, a Persian Gulf monarchy.

Even if politicians come together enough to satisfy the ratings agency, it could take "from nine years to 18 years" to regain the triple-A rating, Chambers said. --NY Post

* 8/8/11--(AP) - State and local education officials have been begging the federal government for relief from student testing mandates in the federal No Child Left Behind law, but school starts soon and Congress still hasn't answered the call. Education Secretary Arne Duncan says he will announce a new waiver system Monday to give schools a break. The plan to offer waivers to all 50 states, as long as they meet other school reform requirements, comes at the request of President Barack Obama, Duncan said. More details on the waivers will come in September, he said. The goal of the No Child Left Behind law is to have every student proficient in math and reading by 2014. States have been required to bring more students up to the math and reading standards each year, based on tests that usually take place each spring. The step-by-step ramping up of the 9-year-old law has caused heartburn in states and most school districts, because more and more schools are labeled as failures as too few of their students meet testing goals.

* 8/8/11--"The Obama administration and congressional Democrats are betting their political futures on the hope that the American electorate is ignorant and forgetful, and hence the memo has gone out to functionaries hither and yon, from David Axelrod to John Kerry: This is to be called the 'tea-party downgrade.' That this is said with straight faces bespeaks either an unshakable contempt for the mind of the American voter or an as-yet unplumbed capacity for Democratic self-delusion. Let us revisit the facts. The original debt-ceiling deal put forward by the Democrats totaled $0.00 in debt reduction. This would have fallen approximately $4 trillion short of the $4 trillion in debt reduction the credit-rating agencies suggested would constitute a 'credible' step toward maintaining our AAA rating and avoiding a downgrade. ... The Democrats have suggested that Republicans' refusal to accede to tax hikes is the main reason Standard & Poor's felt it necessary to issue a downgrade, the first in American history, last Friday evening. In their assessment of Standard & Poor's reasoning, the Democrats are acutely at odds with Standard & Poor's. The credit-rating agency did not call for tax hikes in its assessment. ... But S&P, along with the other credit-rating agencies, has long taken a position on one aspect of our fiscal troubles: entitlement reform. ... As anybody who has looked at our long-term deficit projections knows, entitlement spending is the major driver of our future deficits. ... Tea-party leaders, far from being a barrier to entitlement reform, have demanded it. ... The deal that finally did pass would have contained significantly more in deficit-reduction, except for the fact that Democrats categorically refused to consider -- is this sounding familiar? -- entitlement reform, the most important issue. ... Democrats believe that they have discovered a cartoon villain in the Tea Party, and they are hoping that American voters are gullible enough to be distracted by the political theatrics. Come November 2012, Americans should keep in mind both the insult and the injury -- to the nation and its credit." --National Review (From Patriot Post Brief)

* 8/8/11--Stocks took a sharp nosedive in another choppy day Monday to finish at session lows as investors fled from risky assets following S&P's downgrade of U.S.'s credit rating last week in addition to ongoing economic jitters.--cnbc.com

* 8/8/11--Amidst riots in central Europe that have now spread to London and a debt downgrade that threatens to plunge the United States into a double-dip recession, Americans’ lack of confidence in their leadership is so crippled that they are now “pre-revolutionary,” according to pollster Pat Caddell. A new Rasmussen poll shows that just 17 per cent of Americans believe that the U.S. government has the consent of the governed, an all time low. This dovetails with a record low for Congress’ approval rating, which stands at a paltry 6 per cent, while 46 per cent of Americans think most members of Congress are corrupt, with just 29% believing otherwise. “The number of voters who feel the government has the consent of the governed – a foundational principle, contained in the Declaration of Independence – is down from 23% in early May and has fallen to its lowest level measured yet,” according to Rasmussen. The poll was conducted before Friday’s U.S. debt downgrade, indicating that the figures could be even more dire in the aftermath of what some analysts believe is a precursor to a new great depression. The results of this survey indicate that Americans are now “pre-revolutionary” says pollster Pat Caddell, who described the outcome of the poll as “unprecedented”. This conclusion follows Caddell's observation last November that “a sea of anger is churning” amongst Americans who “want to take their country back” and that the nation stood on the brink of a “pre-revolutionary moment”. Caddell’s conclusion that Americans are on the verge of rising up against a system in which they have lost all trust cannot be easily dismissed as partisan rhetoric. Despite working for numerous Democratic presidential candidates, including Jimmy Carter and Joe Biden, Caddell has been a vociferous critic of both Democrats and Republicans on several issues. Back in early 2008, before the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the start of the financial crisis, we warned that inflation and economic uncertainty would cause a massive social dislocation, which would lead to riots globally. Gerald Celente and others repeated the warning in late 2008. Over the last 18 months, we have now witnessed such scenes across the Middle East and in France, Spain, Greece, Italy and most recently London. Indeed, the only major western country not to experience significant social unrest since the economic collapse is America, although anecdotal evidence of rising crime and thefts suggests a turning point could be just around the corner. Should violence plague American streets as a result of a deepening economic crisis, U.S. troops have already been prepared to deal with such a crisis. As we reported three years ago, U.S. troops returning from Iraq were being re-allocated to occupy America, running checkpoints and training to deal with “civil unrest and crowd control” under the auspices of a Northcom program that revolved around deploying 20,000 active duty troops inside America to “help” state and local officials during times of emergency. The date set for the completion of this program was 2011, just in time to deal with the “pre-revolutionary” fervor that many fear will now manifest itself in Greece-like mayhem as a result of the fallout from the debt downgrade and America’s slide towards economic collapse.--Paul Joseph Watson, Infowars.com

* 8/9/11--With stock markets in free fall yesterday, a desperate President Obama tried to turn things around by delivering a rallying speech -- but it was so lackluster, it led to a full-scale financial massacre.
Obama took to a White House podium at about 2 p.m., when the Dow Jones industrial average had already plummeted 412 points in frantic trading spurred by Standard & Poor's downgrade of US debt from AAA to AA+. "Markets will rise and fall, but this is the United States of America," Obama said. "No matter what some agency may say, we've always been and always will be a triple-A country." The uninspiring address -- which also called for higher taxes on the rich -- led to even more financial bloodletting. The slaughter continued until the closing bell at 4 p.m., with the Dow down 634 points, or 5.5 percent -- representing some $2.5 trillion in vanished wealth. It was the Dow's lowest level since the financial meltdown of December 2008. Only gold and US Treasuries, still seen as safe investments, defied the downward pressure of the massive stock sell-off. All 500 stocks on the S&P 500, the benchmark used for most Americans' retirement funds, fell.--NY Post

* 8/9/11--Rome is burning, do you know where your President is? This week, after 30 U.S. Troops were killed, the DOW plummeted and the U.S. economy was downgraded, President Obama had three birthday party fundraisers with high profile celebrities and went golfing for the weekend at Camp David. It took Obama until Monday morning to make a public statement about any of the chaos previously mentioned. Gutsy call, Mr. President. --Townhall.com

* 8/10/11--"The White House and much of the chattering class cooed on Friday when unemployment dropped to 9.1 percent and 117,000 jobs were reportedly created in July. But these numbers, upon closer inspection, show no progress on the jobs front. Buried in the job stats was a number -- 193,000 -- that dwarfed all the rest. That is the number of workers who left the job market. If 193,000 left and only 117,000 jobs were added, we lost 76,000 jobs." --Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin (From Patriot Post Chronicle)

* 8/12/11--Confidence among U.S. consumers plunged in August to the lowest level since May 1980, adding to concern that weak employment gains and volatility in the stock market will prompt households to retrench. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment slumped to 54.9 from 63.7 the prior month. The gauge was projected to decline to 62, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey. The biggest one-week slump in stocks since 2008 and the threat of default on the nation’s debt may have exacerbated consumers’ concerns as unemployment hovers above 9 percent and companies are hesitant to hire. Rising pessimism poses a risk household spending will cool further, hindering a recovery that Federal Reserve policy makers said this week was already advancing “considerably slower” than projected. "The mood is very depressed,” said Chris Christopher, an economist at IHS Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts. “Consumers are very fatigued and very uncertain. In the short term, people are going to pull back on spending.”--bloomberg.com

* 8/12/11--WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law suffered a setback on Friday when an appeals court ruled that it was unconstitutional to require all Americans to buy insurance or face a penalty. The U.S. Appeals Court for the 11th Circuit, based in Atlanta, ruled 2 to 1 that Congress exceeded its authority by requiring Americans to buy coverage, but it unanimously reversed a lower court decision that threw out the entire law. The legality of the individual mandate, a cornerstone of the healthcare law, is widely expected to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. Opponents have argued that without the mandate, which goes into effect in 2014, the entire law falls.

* 8/12/11--Capitol Hill Democrats and Republicans have announced their 12 picks for the so-called Congressional Super Committee that is charged with finding a way to reduce the debt by $1.5 trillion over 10 years. The evenly split bipartisan committee will have until Thanksgiving to agree on a plan, and speculation is rampant about what that plan will look like, or if it will even materialize. Based on the picks, the latter is most likely. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) chose Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) to co-chair the committee while also managing her duties as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. It's a sure bet that any debt decision she makes will be geared toward holding on to the Democrats' majority in 2012, regardless of the cost. The other Democrats are Sen. John Kerry (MA), fresh from his labeling of the Standard & Poor's credit move a "Tea Party downgrade," and Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (MT), who is somewhat more reasonable than either of his colleagues. From the Republican side of the Senate, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) appointed Sens. Jon Kyl (AZ), Rob Portman (OH), and Pat Toomey (PA), the only member of the committee who voted against the debt-ceiling hike. On the House side, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) named House Republican Conference Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) as co-chair with Murray. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman David Camp (R-MI) and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) were also named to the committee. Upton is probably the only one of the three with a spotty record. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), Chairman of the Budget Committee, would have been an obvious choice, but, though he approved of the selections, he requested that Boehner not appoint him so he could focus on the budget process. House Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) chose three defenders of the entitlement status quo in Minority Whip Rep. James Clyburn (SC), Chris Van Hollen (MD) and Xavier Becerra (CA). The Republican picks demonstrate a wide degree of fiscal experience in the congressional, executive and private sectors. The GOP's goal is to reform entitlements -- the biggest drivers of the debt. They also want to tackle tax reforms that will aid our bleak economy, not punish the wealthy. Democrats have signaled with their picks that they are entrenched in calling for higher taxes and resisting entitlement reform. No surprise at all.--Patriot Post Digest

* 8/12/11--Earlier this year, Wisconsin's Republican legislature and GOP Gov. Scott Walker made a series of reforms that took a bite out of public unions' lavish benefits. Predictably, the unions threw a tantrum. First, they spent millions to defeat a conservative justice on the state supreme court to help them win legal challenges. That didn't work, but they also forced several GOP lawmakers into recall elections. Those were held Tuesday, and, for the most part, that didn't work either. Republicans won four out of six elections -- a major blow to the unions and their allies, who once again spent millions to try to buy victory. One of the losing Republicans represented a heavily Democrat district, and the other was plagued by scandal and lost only narrowly. The four victors, however, also represented districts Barack Obama won in 2008. Round three will be recall elections next Tuesday for two Democrats who fled the state earlier this year in a vain attempt to obstruct Republicans in passing budget legislation. Delusional Democrats are trying to cast Tuesday's outcome as a win, but it's possible that the unions could go 0-for-3 if Democrats lose next week. Who would have thought it possible in Wisconsin, the home of "progressivism"?--Patriot Post Digest

* 8/12/11--In a typical example of the economic failure of Barack Obama's big government policies, the S&P downgraded not just the credit rating of the nation but also those of government mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and other agencies linked to long-term U.S. debt. While Democrats continue to blame the refereeing of the S&P in addition to scapegoating the Tea Party (which, by the way, didn't incur $15 trillion in national debt) or the inability of voters to understand the genius of Mr. Obama, we think what leftists aren't saying is the true reason. It's also the very reason cited by the S&P for downgrading these government mortgage entities: too much debt. Since Fannie Mae was seized by the U.S. government in 2008, it has been given about $104 billion in taxpayer funds to stay afloat. Together with Freddie Mac, the two entities' bad debt has consumed $169 billion of taxpayer money. As if wasting that isn't enough, a 2010 report by the Federal Housing Finance Agency estimated Freddie and Fannie might end up costing taxpayers as much as $363 billion through 2013. The only reservation is that the report assumes the U.S. housing market recovers and the country doesn't experience a double-dip recession. Never content with bungling everything, the federal government reportedly is considering turning repossessed Freddie and Fannie homes into cheap rentals with burdensome and complicated rules. What could possibly go wrong?--Patriot Post Digest

* 8/15/11--WASHINGTON -- President Obama has hit an all-time low in the polls. Obama's job-approval rating sunk yesterday to 39 percent for the first time in Gallup's daily tracking poll. And 54 percent of Americans said they now disapprove of the job the president is doing. The dismal ratings reflect the beating Obama has taken from a stagnant economic recovery, a 9.1 percent jobless rate, a historic US credit downgrade and a brutal fight with Republicans over raising the debt ceiling.--NY Post

* 8/15/11--AMES, Ia. This has been quite a week or 10 days for Republicans. Rick Perry has just announced he’s running for president. Pundits will parse the polling to determine which candidate is up and which down or out. But more important than the fate of individual candidates has been the rush of events going the Republicans’ way. President Obama’s job rating has slid to record lows in the Gallup poll, and his job approval fell under 50 percent even in New York. His Aug. 8 speech had a deer-in-the-headlights quality even as he turned mechanically from one teleprompter to another. Standard & Poor’s has downgraded the government’s credit rating for the first time. The stock market went through a week of horrifying gyrations. Then, on Friday, the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals struck down as unconstitutional ObamaCare’s individual mandate to buy health insurance. Obama’s policies are in shambles; things aren’t working out the way he and his advisers expected. His journalist cheering section has been voicing doubts and dismay. But it’s not clear where Republicans want to go, either, or whether they have candidates with the potential to take them there.--Michael Barone, (NY Post)

* 8/17/11--WASHINGTON -- President Obama is barnstorming the heartland to boost US jobs in a taxpayer-financed luxury bus the government had custom built -- in Canada, The Post has learned. The $1.1 million vehicle, one of two that Quebec-based Prevost sold the government, has been tricked out by the Secret Service with state-of-the-art security features and creature comforts. It's a VIP H3-45 model, the company's top of the line, and is used by major traveling rock bands. "That's the more luxurious model," Christine Garant of Prevost told The Post.--NY Post

* 8/18/11--More Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, signaling the labor market is struggling two years into the economic recovery. Jobless claims climbed by 9,000 to 408,000 in the week ended Aug. 13, the highest in a month, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected a rise in claims to 400,000, according to the median forecast. The number of people on unemployment benefit rolls rose, while those receiving extended payments fell.--bloomberg.com

* 8/18/11--PRINCETON, NJ -- Americans' satisfaction with the way things are going in the United States has fallen back to 11%, the lowest level since December 2008 and just four percentage points above the all-time low recorded in October 2008.--gallup.com

* 8/18/11--The Homeland Security Department said Thursday it will halt deportation proceedings on a case-by-case basis against illegal immigrants who meet certain criteria such as attending school, having family in the military or are primarily responsible for other family members’ care. The move, announced in letters to Congress, comes after Hispanic activists and Democrats had urged President Obama to exempt broad swaths of illegal immigrants from deportation while Congress wrestles with the issue. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said her department and the JJustice Department will review all ongoing cases and see who meets the new criteria on a case-by-case basis.--Washington Times

* 8/18/11--There‘s some curious merchandise for sale in CBS News’ online store. Alongside a travel mug, tote bag and T-shirt that all bear the CBS News logo, the store also includes the following:

“Dreams From My Father,” by Barack Obama

“Dreams From My Father,” by Barack Obama (hardcover)

“Change We Can Believe In: Barack Obama‘s Plan to Renew America’s Promise”

“The American Journey of Barack Obama,” by Life Magazine

“Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photographs”

“The Official Inauguration Celebration DVD”

In fact, out of the 13 items for sale, seven are Obama-related, in addition to the late Sen. Ted Kennedy’s memoir, “True Compass.” The only CBS-related item is a DVD copy of “60 Minutes Presents — Obama: All Access – The Road to the White House.” There is so much merchandise that a side bar on the site even has a separate “Barack Obama” tab for quick browsing. All of this raises a simple question: Why is CBS selling it? A note at the bottom of the site says the merchandise has “national importance:”

CBS News t-shirts and CBS News hoodies will show you’re a true newshound. And don’t forget all the latest DVDs and books with historical significance. Choose from 60 Minutes Barack Obama DVDs, Barack Obama books and other timely tales with national importance.

Again, in addition to the five Obama books, the only other “timely tale” is Kennedy’s memoir. When The Blaze reached out to CBS for comment, no one initially knew who was in charge of the store, or indeed, that one existed. One woman even asked, “There’s a CBS News online store?” After several hours being bounced around through various departments, CBS directed The Blaze to a spokesman for CBS Interactive, the arm that manages the network’s online content. So what’s the reason for the items? In a statement, the spokesman said the merchandise posted for sale was a mistake by the store’s third-party provider and would be taken down:

“It has come to our attention that merchandise unrelated to CBS News was inadvertently made available by our third-party provider on the webpage that is located in the CBS Interactive online store. The items will be removed. We’d like to thank The Blaze for their vigilance in this important matter.”
Important, indeed.
UPDATE: Minutes after publication, CBS removed the items from the website. Note that “Change We Can Believe In” is still visible in the lower-left corner under “recently viewed.”
UPDATE II: The merchandise is still visible if you type “obama” into the search bar. (h/t Blaze reader Aaron)--theblaze.com

* 8/19/11--WASHINGTON -- His vacation couldn't come soon enough. President Obama landed on posh Martha's Vineyard late yesterday for 10 days of fun and sun with the family -- as a worrying array of economic indicators hit new lows. The bleak figures won't make for tranquil summer reading:

* The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 419 points, and new jobless claims climbed by 9,000 to 408,000 last week.

* Morgan Stanley lowered its global economic forecast for the United States and the euro zone -- calling the economies "dangerously close to a recession."

* Home sales dropped 3.5 percent in July, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The White House -- citing family obligations -- defended the Obama vacation amid the gloom and doom. "The president understands that he has important responsibilities to fill, and it's his job to fill those responsibilities 24 hours a day, 365 days a year," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. "At the same, he's also a husband and a father. And I don't think the American people begrudge the president spending a little time with his wife and daughters at the end of the summer, before his daughters head back to school." Earnest said a member of Obama's National Economic Council would fly to the Vineyard to brief the president, who was accompanied by counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan. But the Republican NNational Committee continued its series of slams on the Obama getaway, where the first family once again is staying at the 29-acre Blue Heron Farm, which rents for $50,000 per week. The RNC invited backers to send "Obama Getaway Cards" to the vacationing president. Obama found a sympathetic voice of support in Mayor Bloomberg, who's known to prize his weekend trips to his Bermuda compound. "Look, everybody deserves a vacation, and he's got to decide what's right and set his own schedule, and I'll leave that to him," Bloomberg said yesterday. "And, incidentally, the phones work from Martha's Vineyard, so he's not exactly out of touch." Sarah Palin was not nearly so forgiving, calling the decision "tone deaf" in a Fox interview from her Alaska home.--NY Post

* 8/20/11--“They have created a working group that appears to have the specific purpose of overruling, on a ‘case-by-case’ basis, an immigration court’s final order of removal, or preventing that court from even issuing such an order. [It’s a] plan to grant back-door amnesty to illegal immigrants.”--House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), referring to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s initiative drastically reducing deportations of illegal immigrants.--NY Post

* 8/22/11--WASHINGTON (AP) — Laid-off workers and aging baby boomers are flooding Social Security's disability program with benefit claims, pushing the financially strapped system toward the brink of insolvency. Applications are up nearly 50 percent over a decade ago as people with disabilities lose their jobs and can't find new ones in an economy that has shed nearly 7 million jobs. The stampede for benefits is adding to a growing backlog of applicants — many wait two years or more before their cases are resolved — and worsening the financial problems of a program that's been running in the red for years. New congressional estimates say the trust fund that supports Social Security disability will run out of money by 2017, leaving the program unable to pay full benefits, unless Congress acts. About two decades later, Social Security's much larger retirement fund is projected to run dry as well.

* 8/22/11-- (Reuters) - Consumer confidence has fallen further after weeks of intensified economic concerns and broad stock market declines, and Conference Board data due later this month could be even weaker than current projections suggest, Consumer Edge Research said on Monday. Readings from high, middle and low-income consumers all deteriorated sharply, due mainly to dramatic declines in outlook, the independent equity research firm said. The firm's Consumer Economic Index is now at 45.4, down 10 percentage points from July and down 1.5 points from the 46.9 level it reported on August 10. Two days after that report, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's preliminary August reading showed that U.S. consumer sentiment had fallen to its lowest point since May 1980. The 45.4 reading is the lowest since Consumer Edge Research began its index in March 2010.

* 8/23/11--Swallow all liquids in your mouth before reading any further. Updated numbers for the national debt are just out: It's now $14,639,000,000,000. When Barack Obama took the oath of office twice on Jan. 20, 2009, CBS' amazing number cruncher Mark Knoller reports, the national debt was $10,626,000,000,000. That means the debt that our federal government owes a whole lot of somebodies including China has increased $4,247,000,000,000 in just 945 days. That's the fastest increase under any president ever. Remember the day the Democrat promised to close the embarrassing Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility within one year? That day the national debt increased $4,247,000,000. And each day since that the facility hasn't been closed. Same for the day in 2009 when Obama flew all the way out to Denver to sign the $787 billion stimulus bill that was going to hold national unemployment beneath 8% instead of the 9.1% we got today anyway? Another $4,247,000,000 that day. And every day since, even Obama golfing and vacation days. Same sum for the day Obama flew Air Force One nearly four hours roundtrip to Columbus, Ohio for a 10-minute speech about how well the stimulus was working in the politically crucial Buckeye state. Ohio's unemployment rate just jumped to 9% from 8.8% anyway. Or last week's three-day Midwestern tour in the president's new $1.1 million Death Star bus? National debt went up $16,988,000,000 while he rode around speaking and buying ice cream cones. Numbers with that many digits are hard to grasp, even for a Harvard head. So, let's put it another way:

One billion seconds ago Bill Clinton was nearing the end of his two terms and George W. Bush's baseball collection was still on the shelves in the Austin governor's office. The nation's debt increased $4.9 trillion under President Bush too, btw. But it took him 2,648 days to do it. Obama will surpass that sum during this term. Now, how to portray a trillion, or 1,000 billions. One trillion seconds ago much of North America was still covered by ice sheets hundreds of feet thick. And the land was dotted by only a few dozen Starbuck's. Obama is saying yes, we can get control of the national debt. But ominously every time he says that he adds that trillions of dollars in infrastructure repairs are badly needed across the country. And with interest rates so low, according to the thinking on Obama's planet, now is an excellent time to borrow even more money. So, it looks like not too long before Americans learn what comes after 1,000 trillions. It's quadrillion. But for Bernanke's sake, please don't tell anyone in Washington.--LA Times

* 8/23/11--WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of people who bought new homes fell for the third straight month in July, putting sales on track to finish this year as the worst on records dating back half a century. Sales of new homes fell nearly 1 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 298,000, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. That's less than half the 700,000 that economists say represent a healthy market. Housing remains the weakest part of the economy. Last year was the worst for new-home sales on records that go back nearly 50 years.

* 8/24/11--"Following a pattern of making law by regulation and executive order, the Obama administration [last week] announced it will impose a version of the Dream (development, relief and education for alien minors) Act on America through administrative fiat. This is blatant political pandering in an election cycle at the expense of American citizens. On Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told Congress she has authority to halt deportation of illegal aliens not perceived to be a criminal threat as long as they meet certain criteria, such as attending school or having family in the military. The new rules would cover up to 300,000 illegal aliens. In 2010, the government deported 200,000 with no criminal records. Under the new rules, most would now likely be allowed to stay and apply for permits. Opposed by a majority of Americans and twice defeated in Congress, the federal Dream Act essentially grants amnesty to any illegal alien in America if they agree to enlist in the military or attend a U.S. college. It's called a 'path to citizenship,' a path that leads right past the U.S. Border Patrol. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, a sponsor of the federal Dream Act, praised the DHS announcement. 'These students are the future doctors, lawyers, teachers and maybe senators who will make America stronger,' he said in a statement. So are the children of America's jobless. ... 'If you look at immigrants from Mexico, they register 3-to-1 Democrat, so the Democratic Party is for easy citizenship and allowing them to vote,' says Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. This is about making the Democratic Party, not America, strong." --Investor's Business Daily (From Patriot Post Chronicle)

* 8/26/11--We have noted on numerous occasions the scandal that is Operation Fast and Furious. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives began the operation, part of which was Project Gunrunner, ostensibly to track firearms headed from the U.S. to Mexico. At least 2,000 guns have been lost, however, and many have turned up at crime scenes, including numerous instances in the U.S. Such guns were also used to kill two American officials, ICE Agent Jaime Zapata and Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. Despite this egregious incompetence, none of the ATF's players involved has been held accountable. In fact, three of the agents responsible for this disastrous operation were just promoted. According to Pajamas Media's Bob Owen's, "The three supervisors have been given new management positions at the agency's headquarters in Washington. They are William G. McMahon, who was the ATF's deputy director of operations in the West, where the illegal trafficking program was focused, and William D. Newell and David Voth, both field supervisors who oversaw the program out of the agency's Phoenix office." The whistleblower, Vince Cefalu, was fired. Somehow, the Obama administration, the Justice Department and the ATF must be held accountable for this continuing outrage.--Patriot Post Digest